The Women's duet event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, took place at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center from 14 to 16 August.

The eight National Olympic Committees (NOC) qualified for the team competition were automatically awarded a place for duets.

The five best ranked NOCs in each of the continental championships who had not qualified for team event were also awarded a place each.

The eleven remaining places were awarded through an Olympic Games qualification tournament, held in Rio at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center 02-6 March 2016.

[1] Both preliminary free and technical routines starting lists were decided by random draw.